Moore School undergraduates drive big results in marketing Chevy’s environmental initiatives

With a $2,500 budget and a national client, 13 Moore School undergrads got a chance this semester to get in the driver’s seat of a real marketing agency. The students chosen for the prestigious Marketing Scholars Program at the University of South Carolina were given their assignment at the beginning of the spring semester: in four short months, they were challenged to increase awareness of Chevrolet’s Fuel Solutions environmental initiative to design and build hybrid, electric, ethanol, and fuel-cell vehicles. Presenting last week to representatives from Chevy and Edventure Partners, the Marketing Scholars put up numbers that even the pros would have been proud to claim.

Under the direction of Dr. Stacy Wood, associate professor of marketing, and Kacie Dupuis, student CEO of the agency, the students first conducted marketing research to assess initial perceptions of Chevy as a "green" brand and then developed an integrated marketing campaign to enhance this perception among their target population of college students. The campaign, titled "Think Green. Vote Chevy," leveraged college students’ current interest in the political arena with campaign-styled advertisements, events, and promotions held on the Columbia campus during the semester. During the final promotional event that drew over 1,200 students, students voted on which fuel solution (hybrid, electric, ethanol, fuel-efficiency, and fuel-cell) they thought to be the most promising for future vehicles. The winner? While many students liked hybrid options, the winner was fuel-cell technology, which generates electrical power quietly, efficiently, and without pollution. Unlike power sources that use gas or other fossil fuels, the by-products from fuel cells are heat and water. Chevy has recently launched a test fleet of the hydrogen-powered fuel-cell Equinox SUV. This is the first large-scale launch of a fuel-cell vehicle in the United States.

Overall, the amazing success of the Marketing Scholars emerged when the agency conducted post-campaign marketing research to see how perceptions of Chevy changed. The data show that the student agency increased awareness in the target population by almost 40% for Chevy’s hybrid vehicles and a whopping 100% for Chevy’s electric and fuel-cell vehicles.

The Marketing Scholars Program is just one of many innovative undergraduate courses at the Moore School of Business. This year’s students include Caroline Bradshaw, Andrew Brenan, Whitney Brooks, Shawn Campbell, Jena Cockrell, Kacie DuPuis, Anne Fell, Chanelle Harceg, Mark Killian, Dana McKinley, Katie Vernali, Amy Wike, and Kaitlyn Yopp. In pursuit of their goals, the Marketing Scholars use the breadth of their business education to see the application of knowledge in a real-world setting. Speaking of the program, now in its 15th year, Dr. Wood said, "This innovative course not only improves students’ communication skills and marketing acumen, but also teaches them about working in a cohesive team under the pressures of real money and deadlines. I am so proud of the outstanding results achieved for Chevy in this year's assignment and the caliber of the students who participated. This success will open a lot of doors for our students!"

Dr. Stacy Wood
April 2008

Those in the top group photo (alphabetically) are: Carolina Bradshaw, Andrew Brenan, Whitney Brooks, Shawn Campbell, Jena Cockrell, Kacie DuPuis, Anne Fell, Chanelle Harceg, Mark Killian, Dana McKinley, Katie Vernali, Amy Wike, and Kaitlyn Yopp.